We live in the Internet age where a majority of our personal and business activities depend on computers and electronic devices. This digital life is what lead to the creating of the electronic calling card. The eBusiness card started as a novelty to become a necessary business networking tool.
What is a Digital Business Card?
These modern contact cards can now be sent and received electronically via wirelessly using tools, e-mail, internet, SMS, or by Bluetooth instead of using paper as a medium.
What are the Types of Digital Business Cards?
There are four main types of business cards; Phone contact cards, e-mail based business cards, social networking sites as business cards, and tools and applications such as Pokens or the iPhone used to exchange business card data.
The Phone calling card and the e-mail based digital contact card are quite interchangeable as you can send e-mail through phone now and you can also e-mail using your phone. The main difference is that phone-based digital calling cards operates from your phone and makes use of SMS or Bluetooth functions while E-mail based digital calling cards, operates from your e-mail account.
Examples of Phone-based digital contact cards are Contxts, TxtID and DUB. Contxts lets you send and receive calling cards via SMS, while TxtID is a service that works by having the other party text your username to a six digit number and where they will receive your contact info via SMS. To use DUB contact cards, an account must first be created on their website, thereafter you can then have it sent to other users by email or SMS, simply by sending a text message to the DUB site. These services start with free program options, but usually offer paid services that allow you to access more function or send and receive more digital calling cards.
For E-mail based visiting cards, companies such as Drop Card and Weavemet offer such services. Both of the companies offers services that works similar to Contxts and TxtID where you create a profile on their site, text the e-mail address to a dropcard number and your contact will receive your contact card in their e-mail.
The third type is using your social networking profiles such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Google profiles as contact cards. There is also a service that aggregates all your social network profiles like MyNameIsE which is a site that collects all of your social profiles into a virtual calling card that can be accessed via mobile web.
The last category of digital visiting card are devices such as iPhone apps or Pokens that you use with other people with the same devices where the device trades the contact information. Some of these apps specialize on contact data entry. Examples of these iPhone apps are vCard and BeamME.
What is the Advantage of a Digital Business Card?
Digital business cards offer a lot of advantages, here are some of them:
It's easier to create. Since digital business cards do not really require any aesthetic styling, you do not have to worry about designing one. The person you give it to will not lose it since digital calling cards cannot get lost or left behind because your contact will always have it in their email-account, phone, or other web based contact sharing account.
It's eco-friendly. Digital contact cards do not require paper so you will be helping the environment if when you use electronic business cards.
It's efficient. When handed a paper calling card, most people scan it or enter the data on their phones or computers, but if your calling card is already given digitally, the recipient will not need to go through the hassle of encoding it anymore.
As mentioned earlier, digital calling cards are often asked for, especially since most people use internet phones and iPhones where providing digital contact cards are more handy for these tech savvy people. It is really useful to get yourself a digital calling card in order to stay connected whether for personal use or for business purposes.
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